“Music and Lyrics” is a pretty decent romantic comedy, but it has the ability to be a lot better.
The film, which opens on Valentine’s Day, tells the story of Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) – a washed up, old-news ’80s pop idol (it’s kind of what happened to the “other” guy in Wham!). His career fizzled after his ’80s supergroup, Pop!, broke up. His partner in the band went on to a successful solo career, but Alex is stuck playing gigs at high school reunions or the local fair. Enter his agent, Chris Riley (Brad Garrett) who gets Alex a meeting with the news poptart, Cora (Haley Bennett), who wants him to write a song for her. In four days.
As Alex begins pounding out a song with a song writer, his plant waterer, Sophie (Drew Barrymore) has a knack for writing lyrics, so Alex encourages her to help him write the song. And the traditional romantic comedy script plays out, the two fall in love, get ripped apart, etc.
Grant is fabulous in his role, although there are times you can see the disdain in his actions as he goes through the motions of being Alex, who the audience loathes at times. But he does get into the role as much as he can, and there is lots of dancing, so Grant does provide a lot of laughs. He also sings the songs himself, his voice almost on the breaking level, who know where your voice is about to break or crack, but as Entertainment Weekly comments, it just shows the silliness of ’80s pop music – you didn’t have to sing in order to make money and be a success.
Barrymore is the wrong choice for the role of Sophie. Although typically she is well cast in the role of the lovable loser (”Never Been Kissed”), in this role it just seems uncomfortable. As well, Grant is aging, his baby face is disappearing, but Barrymore still has hers, so on one level it seems like a creepy May-December romance. A better casting choice may have been Sarah Jessica Parker, who has mastered playing the lovable loser; she looks closer to Grant’s age and she can sing as well.
The film is good, but has a little too many subplots, especially Sophie’s ex-lover who wrote a novel about her, that never seem to get resolved. And the fact that Sophie is Alex’s plant waterer just seems a little too odd. Make her something more enticing, like his dog walker, or house cleaner, or something a little more believable.
Kristen Thompson steals every scene she’s in as Sophie’s sister, Rhonda, who goes all schoolgirl giddy over Alex.
However, for being a romantic comedy, the film is enjoyable. It’s a great way to spend Valentine’s Day with your significant other, or a bunch of girlfriends. Just a bit of warning: Pop’s number one hit, “Pop Goes My Heart,” will be stuck in your head as you exit the theatre.
